As criticism mounts, the Nationals are redoubling their efforts. Crucially, they are being supported by their senior partners in the Turnbull government, the Liberals. Not a word of criticism has come from senior Liberals, including the Prime Minister himself, though the only federal Liberal representative in the national capital, Senator Zed Seselja, has spoken up.

Many persuasive arguments, by the ACT government, local federal MPs, and local business and community leaders, have been made in defence of Canberra and against these proposals by the Nationals. They have been made specifically in relation to the first such move, the shift of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Armidale in Joyce's electorate of New England.

That it is Armidale and not another regional city doesn't really matter, although it strengthens the case against Joyce on the grounds of self-interested pork barrelling.

Whatever the general argument for decentralisation, Canberra is the wrong target. It is actually the best Australian example of decentralisation to the bush that there is. It is a bush capital.

The Nationals should be proud of this national achievement rather than try to undermine it.

Furthermore, Canberra is still quite a small city, dependent on public service employment. Seselja has made the point effectively that, if decentralisation is the aim, Sydney and Melbourne are much more suitable targets.

From another important perspective, a move out of Canberra is illogical and positively harmful because it is fit for purpose. To have a single centre for government administration makes for better public administration and better government.

As Seselja has also said, efficient and effective government is in the best interests of all Australians.

Cost-benefit analysis also does not support the Nationals' case, both generally and specifically in the case of the move of the pesticides authority. Not only will it hurt the government's own bottom line but the Productivity Commission warned in its recent report, Transitioning Regional Economies, that such decentralisation might offer only limited stimulus to regional cities anyway.

The voices of those who have defended Canberra have been accompanied by some deafening silences. The biggest silence has come from the public service itself.

One of the problems in public discussion of what is best for efficient and effective federal government in Canberra is that, by dint of their commitment to serving the government of the day, senior public service leaders cannot contribute.

This is a huge gap because, while they, too, may be accused of self-interest because they are based in Canberra, public service leaders are among those who know what are the best administrative arrangements for good government.

Let's hear their views on substantial decentralisation of the Australian Public Service. The public has a right to know.